Perfecting an art and completing any journey requires commitment. Commitment holds us through to gaining the necessary experience which we then reflect upon and refine into skill. Skill keeps the ball rolling and perpetuates the development of real world applicable knowledge – and this positive cycle continues.

The journey of deep understanding, mastery of the self, empowerment, realization, enlightenment or where ever it is that our own personal mountain peak may be, becomes clearer as we advance, because we gain skill, knowledge and technique. Our mind has already learned to move beyond certain limits and discovered experiences that it could once only imagine. We build on prior experiences, we extrapolate from our skills, exploring tangents, working on grander ideas and simpler methods. We develop guidelines, rules and structures which we have proven to ourselves work time and time again in the real world. These rules give us stability, they provide us with a knowing that we have a partial map of how to get to our destination.

Without commitment however, all the rules change.

Commitment is what will see us standing by our game when skill fails us. It will see us being steadfast when the world is seemingly against us. Commitment is what will give us the humility to honestly look at ourselves. It is what will give us the strength to surrender the parts of ourselves that no longer serve.

There will be times on the path when it seems like all our teachings, knowledge and understanding have failed us. Perhaps there will be many times. Look down at your feet and just concentrate on taking the next step.

In this moment here and now commitment is just taking that next step.

We talk about empowerment. We talk about enlightenment, magic, healing, self-mastery and personal development. The real magic is commitment. When we find ourselves at the very last step of our lives and we look back at everything that we have experienced and reflect on the directions that we have chosen, we will know that what brought us to this final step was commitment. The question is not whether commitment was there – it is whether we have been committed to what is important to us.

Have we lived lives that are integral to us or have we forgotten our meaning? Are we truly okay with our compromises? Or do we wish for more?

Commitment is power when we are committed to purpose and meaning.

If we seek greater intimacy in our relationships, more passion in work, enhanced spiritual awareness or connection to meaning and purpose – commitment is what will have us standing at the pinnacle of those goals.

Seekers may argue over the relevancy of different types of technique and skill, and even masters may quibble over the specifics of knowledge and concept. That’s just the way it is. There are many ways up the mountain. Even half way up there will be people who tell us we’re going the wrong way, “that you need to climb up the other side!” Or that perhaps we are climbing the wrong mountain. The one thing that cannot be denied however, is that the journey takes commitment to succeed. And interestingly the details of right and wrong will usually become apparent as we continue the journey. At times we may even turn completely around and head the other way only to find that we are closer to what we truly wanted after all. There are many mountains. What is important is that we climb somewhere and continue to climb. Through this journey we connect to the source of who we are.

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